“What he said should be offensive to you, it should be offensive to anybody. That’s not the kind of thing you ought to say in public, in private, but certainly in the civic discourse. That just not… I don’t think you’ve ever heard me in the heat of passion use terminology like that. It was offensive,” Villaraigosa said.

The mayor added that he was so shocked by the language that he walked out of the meeting to cool down for a few minutes.

“I said, ‘What did you say?’ And he said it again. And when he said it again, I realized that it would be better if I just walked out for a bit,” Villaraigosa said.

On Wednesday Villaraigosa made it clear that extending the Measure “R” sales tax was his top legislative priority. But if the events that unfolded Thursday were any indication, it could be a hard campaign ahead.

The Metro board did go on to pass the resolution extending the tax on a vote of three to two — Villaraigosa’s vote being the deciding factor.

Supervisor Antonovich was unavailable to do an interview, but his office said that what he meant by saying that voters were “gang raped,” was that those who put together Measure “R” disregarded local officials and local communities. They said he hopes it will be different this time.